Conventional body armor is available in a number of different configurations and materials. For example, conventional, standard issue armor in use by the U.S. military is constructed of a ceramic such as boron carbide. Other conventional materials used to fabricate body armor include ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), and aramid fibers. While these various materials have various advantages, ceramic armor, which is typically the conventional choice for defeating rifle rounds, has certain disadvantages. For example, ceramic armor plates can typically only survive a limited number of hits before they break apart and become ineffective. Additionally, ceramic armor is relatively fragile, requiring specialized storage and handling procedures. Ceramic armor is thick, often having more than one inch of thickness. Finally, ceramic armor is expensive, which often puts it outside of the budget range of civilians, police, or security agencies with limited budgets.
Steel has long been used in applications requiring ballistic resistance, such as in armor applications. In particular high hardness abrasion resistant steel, for example, AR500 steel (“abrasive resistant steel; 500 Brinell hardness”) has long been used to build bullet traps, shooting targets and as armor plate for vehicles and fixed installations. More recently, AR500, AR550 and AR650 steel has been used to construct body armor. While steel armor is inexpensive and has excellent ballistic resistance, multi-hit capability, and durability, it is heavy and difficult to form. As a result, steel armor plates have typically been offered as flat flats, or at best, single curved plates in which the trauma plate has a curve that is defined about an axis that runs vertically with respect to the torso when the plate is worn. An example of such a single curve steel plate is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 9,021,612. What is needed is a steel armor plate that more naturally matches the contours of the human torso.